Corporate Cronyism and the Food Stamp Army

When I read stuff like this I am often left without words... The numbers speak for themselves to support the clear rise of a new "dependent class" in
our society.

Under Obama, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, has exploded with a record number of people – 46
million and growing – getting free groceries from the American taxpayer. Adding insult to injury, a federal audit revealed last year that many who
don’t qualify for food stamps now receive them under a new “broad-based” eligibility program that disregards income and asset requirements.

Obama says the food stamp extension is part of his intention to eradicate “food insecure households.” However, it’s really part of a massive
redistribution of wealth. Last year, taxpayers were forced to pay more than $80 billion, including an estimated $750 million a year in outright
fraud.

An estimated $750 million in pure fraud each an every year... and there are only an estimated 100 workers in USDA to monitior/detect this fraud.
Govt. Estimate? Accuracy from the Govt.? I would double that $750 million just to be on the safe side of this massive cover up.

Here's the kicker and the part that just made my mind blow

The term “estimated” is used advisedly here, because the fact is the government is involved in a deliberate cover-up to prevent taxpayers from
learning the full truth about who receives food stamps, how they spend the money, and how much of it is going for illicit – and even nefarious –
purchases. As a stunning study by the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) recently revealed, “The USDA already collects such data. So far,
however, the data have not been made available to the public.”

Now, you might be wondering why the federal government would want to withhold such vital information from those who have been forced to pick up the
food stamp tab. In particular, why would it be so reluctant to thoroughly investigate and expose food stamp fraud? Well, a large part of the answer
lies in the title of the GAI study: “Profits from Poverty: How Food Stamps Benefit Corporations.”

Did someone say JP Morgan?? Say it ain't so

According to the study, the current food stamp Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card industry is dominated by three main players: J.P. Morgan
Electronic Financial Services, Affiliated Computer Services, and eFunds. Together they collect money from 49 states and three territories. In fact,
since 2004, 18 of 24 states that contract with J.P. Morgan have paid more than $560 million to the financial monolith.

There is little wonder then that those three companies appear to be perfectly content with the exploding food stamp rolls – and wholly unconcerned
about rampant fraud and abuse. As the GAI study observed, “The more persons enrolled in the program, the more money the EBT industry makes.” That
may also help explain why, when the state of Florida initiated an eight-month program to detect and prevent fraud among its three million EBT card
users, J.P. Morgan saw fit to assign just one employee to the program

WAIT FOR IT!! The connection!

And then there is this: During the 2008 election, Barack Obama received more than $800,000 from J.P. Morgan alone. After his election, the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, initiated by Obama and passed by a compliant Congress, made two major changes to existing food stamp policies.
First, it increased benefits by 13.6 percent. Second, it actively encouraged states to add more recipients to their food stamp rolls.

How convenient!!

This goes beyond Obama and on into Congress. No Surprise!

And the corporate cronyism and political payoffs don’t end there. The House and Senate Agricultural Committees have jurisdiction over all food
assistance and distribution programs, including the food stamp program. So, just as one might expect, analysis by the GAI uncovered a clear trend of
increasing contributions to Agriculture Committee members of both the House and Senate on the part of J.P. Morgan that clearly coincides with their
entry into the lucrative EBT card, food stamp market. .

Read on to see how all of this has affected the election and of course ACORN is involved. Why wouldn't they be involved.

A newly registered to vote Food Stamp Army that is ready to vote the candidate who stands to keep their hands full. I expect these same people to
show up for duty when Obama finally calls up his "Army of Civilians" that he spoke so proudly of during the 2008 campaign. Don't be surprised as his
plan continues to unfold.

The GAI study concludes, “Increasing profits for JP Morgan in turn means increasing returns for investors.” Unfortunately, they also appear to
mean an exponentially increasing food stamp bill for the American taxpayer. And Obama’s new Food Stamp Army is seen as a reliable source of new
voters for the progressive agenda.

Jobs would be a great start. But first we need an administration that is actually concerned about creating jobs and even more concerned about the 90
million people who have simply given up the job search. They don't care because it just means more people to join the dependent class and best of
all more people to vote. The administration definitely supports breaking people down to their lowest point though. Those folks will eventually need
and take everything that is thrown at them by an administration who thinks it can continue to right blank checks.

They made such a big deal, here in MI a few years ago, about a plan to only be on it for so long, then you had to have a job, two years I think. I
don't know what happened to that plan, but it sure isn't in effect right now. What is the government going to do, when the number of people on
assistance is more than those working? How is that going to work?

I've been on both sides, and something seriously needs to be done, like yesterday. It should be a hand up, not a hand out.

There are companies in the oil field pratically begging for employees. You can't tell me that there are no jobs out there. It may not be the job you
want and you may have to make a few sacrifices, but there are jobs out there and there always has been.

Originally posted by chiefsmom
They made such a big deal, here in MI a few years ago, about a plan to only be on it for so long, then you had to have a job, two years I think. I
don't know what happened to that plan, but it sure isn't in effect right now. What is the government going to do, when the number of people on
assistance is more than those working? How is that going to work?

I've been on both sides, and something seriously needs to be done, like yesterday. It should be a hand up, not a hand out.

It all changed when Obama took office. Back in 2006 I collected unemployment in Ohio for a brief period of time. In 2006 the requirement just for
unemployment was quite stringent. I had to provide the names and contacts of at least 3 companies a week that I was applying to and before I could
get one nickel I had to wait until after I got my last severance check. I'm sure the food stamp guidelines were stricter as well. Obama changed
all that. Much to the benefit of J.P. Morgan and others.

Our nation is very close to crossing the tipping point in many areas from public assistance to Social Security to Income Tax Collection.. When we do
tip, righting the wrong will be most difficult to correct....

The connection between the FS program and the banks/card distributors has always ticked me off, but a "Food Stamp Army"?

Please....

Why can't we have a logical discussion about the program, the corruption and how to fix it without delving deep into the crap bucket just to belittle
and defame people who obviously need help just feeding their families!

Most people that receive assistance....WORK! Just by looking at the enrollment numbers and unemployment numbers, one can easily discern that these
people are the working poor.

And to top it all off, most people that receive government assistance, FS's and welfare, are more concentrated in "Red states". That means that
these people would be less-likely to vote for the Left.

Originally posted by sheepslayer247
Most people that receive assistance....WORK!

That's an issue that the Breibart writers love to overlook. The working poor. The people that work two or three jobs and still don't push
past poverty level.

The article and the OP are quick to make the connection that Mitt Romney made; that Obama gave out 'free' stuff to people so they'd vote for him.
That's not only patently false but completely ignorant of the reality of the situation that most people on assistance are in.

Your threads are funny, and as Usual , missing the truth.
Enlighten yourself, the truth is within the Link.
You can do it Jib, open the link... www.macrotrends.org...

I'm not talking about those trumped up unemployment numbers. But it is so refreshing to see Obama's numbers right were they were when he was sworn
in Jan.2009. Hope and change you can count on. Don't expect it to drop during the rest of his term. But since you mentioned it, how about the 90
million people who have left the work force?

I was referring to how Obama increased the Food Stamp benefit and subsequently lowered the standards to receive the benefit. That all changed with
Obama. Furthermore, the numbers of those receiving benefits has repeatedly broken records under Obama as has the number of those collecting
disability.

How am I missing the truth again? Maybe you have just missed the reality.. Glad I could make you laugh just as you have made me chuckle

You are referring to Obama's "food insecure" households that was mentioned in the OP. Guess you didn't read it... Thanks for stopping by...

Oh yeah.

ACORN’s Project Vote remains highly active in registering voters on public assistance. In Colorado, for instance, Judicial Watch uncovered
documents proving that ACORN/Project Vote successfully pressured Colorado officials into implementing new policies for increasing the registration of
public assistance recipients during the 2008 and 2010 election seasons. After the policy changes, the percentage of fraudulent voter registration
forms from Colorado public assistance agencies was four times the national average.

Our investigations also show that the Obama Justice Department is partnering with Project Vote in this campaign to register as many public assistance
voters as possible, while neglecting to enforce (or outright opposing) legal requirements that ineligible voters are kept off of the voting rolls.

I guess you and your friends have missed the point and have focused on attacking the source and me.

You can see that there are many big lies in the food stamp program. Rather than putting food on the table for poor people, the program is now
about massive cash transfer payments to not-so-poor people and major corporations, greased by campaign donations – all in the hope of gaining new
voters – legal or not.

I guess you guys love those greedy corporations who are making a killing off this corrupt program....

Not trying to butt-in on your conversation, but this statement stands out to me:

I was referring to how Obama increased the Food Stamp benefit and subsequently lowered the standards to receive the benefit. That all changed with
Obama. Furthermore, the numbers of those receiving benefits has repeatedly broken records under Obama as has the number of those collecting
disability.

Has anyone ever actually looked at the current status of things in America?

The value of the dollar is crashing. Meaning that it takes more money to buy stuff.

Prices are shooting through the roof. Meaning it takes more money to buy stuff.

The economy is trashed (by Obama AND those who came before him). Meaning that the majority of work available will pay less than it did in good
times.

Therefore, Obama lowering standards for FS eligibility and the rise in it's need only reflects the current economic status and a testament as to how
bad things really are.

I can't disagree with you regarding the problem with our economy on multiple fronts. But at least be honest enough to explore who is getting rich
off of this program. That is the whole point. The political glad handing etc etc.

I can't disagree with you regarding the problem with our economy on multiple fronts. But at least be honest enough to explore who is getting rich
off of this program. That is the whole point. The political glad handing etc etc.

I know who is getting rich and I completely agree. Where we part ways in the entire "FS Army" crap.

I have no doubt that most people on FS's are not concerned about who is on office, they care about feeding their families.

I'm glad some parts of the media are finally covering this. I've been looking into it for a couple years now. I think where the divide comes in for
most people is that there is a narrative pushed from right wing oriented propaganda that there is an "Entitlement Class" and this is all done to buy
the vote of certain segments of the population. Thing is, they are not wrong. They're just pointing the finger at the nations downtrodden and poor
instead of the super rich multinational corporations and banks. They are the true entitlement class and they are the ones who choose our politicians,
not us.

No one is trying to get people on the government dole in order to buy votes, the people do not choose our politicians anymore. The big banks and
corporations do. They just let us play in the game so we don't start raising our voices. The right wing echo chamber myth (keep in mind I am a
registered republican) would have you believe that more and more people are on food stamps because Obama is a socialist or a Marxist or something,
what they fail to tell you is banks like JP Morgan-Chase which has deals in 24 states to dispense SNAP benefits, reaps massive revenue from such
things. Its 7 year contract to operate the aid program in New York garnered it more than $126 million, while its five-year deal with Florida brought
in $83 million. They profit the more food stamps there are. JPMorgan’s segment that makes food stamp debit cards made $5.47 billion in net revenue
in 2010. Or how about Walmart, who in Oklahoma raked in $500 million in 2 years alone from food stamp payments. Obama is nothing but a whore for the
corporate interests which really makes him no different than any other president of the last 50 years in this regard.

My stats may be a little off but they are recent... An all-time record 47.79 million Americans are now on food stamps. Back when Barack Obama first
took office, that number was only sitting at about 32 million. According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the
combined populations of Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the entire population of Spain.

Massive amounts of money are being funneled to special interests that NEED NO HELP as opposed to the little guy and the hurting folks, or near
bankrupt cities and towns who cannot pay for teachers and local LEO or to build and sustain bridges and roads. Interests making record profits each
year get the money. And either don't pay taxes or pay very little. If this crony capitalism ended we would be able to sustain our social and welfare
programs, despite the more and more people who are struggling. There may be jobs here in the states but not as many as before. It's not really
debatable fact anymore. So-called free trade and the Golden Straightjacket of globalization have insured much of our manufacturing base has been
outsourced and those jobs are not coming back. Not unless we fix things. Capitalism and the free market have been corrupted.

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